Heroes of the Lance is a side-scrolling action game.[2] The game used actual Dungeons & Dragons statistics, with statistics for the characters exactly as they were in the rule books.[3] Eight heroes from the Dragonlance novels series must be assembled for the quest, and only one is visible on the screen at a time; when one on-screen hero dies, the next in line appears.[2]

While Heroes of the Lance is a faithful representation of the books it is based on, it was a departure from the usual role-playing video game style of most Dungeons & Dragons games, and many players lamented its difficult gameplay interface[citation needed] which consists of using one character at a time in horizontally scrolling fighting. Each character has different types of attacks and spells making them more suited to fighting different enemies but they merely act as "lives" for the player as in more traditional fighting games, removing one of the main strategies of role-playing games from the game.

Heroes of the Lance was not part of the Gold Box series; the nickname for these other D&D titles were "Silver Box" games.[2] The NES version was developed by Natsume. Due to a contract with the publishers, Natsume was not allowed to put their name or credits in the game.[citation needed] This was also the case with the other AD&D titles released on the NES which were developed by Japanese companies.[citation needed]

After reviewing a pre-production copy of Heroes of the Lance, G.M. The Independent Fantasy Roleplaying Magazine said that "it would undoubtedly go straight to the top of the computer games charts and stay there for several months. Its THAT good."[4] They specifically praised its graphics and audio, calling the latter "excellent".[4]Computer Gaming World gave the game a similarly positive review.[5]

While the DOS version was the one reviewed in the magazines mentioned above, the NES version is often cited as one of the poorer titles available for the console. Specifically, past Electronic Gaming Monthly columnist, Seanbaby, listed it as the 2nd worst NES game, and as the 11th worst video game.[6][7]

Levi Buchanan, in a classic Dungeons & Dragons videogame retrospective for IGN, wrote that "If you don't plan well, you can lose a lot of heroes in a very short period of time. This offered a slight strategy angle, but D&D fans largely preferred the Pool of Radiance straight RPG approach."[2]

According to GameSpy, "While the game was actually a fairly decent side-scroller for its time, the frustrating level of difficulty, along with the fact that you couldn't save the game, meant that most gamers gave this game a miss".[8]